Monday, 12 January 2009

The Sustrans circus comes to town

Sustrans are coming to town, trumpeting North East Greenways. And what are these? “A ‘green grid’ of walking and cycling routes”. These will encourage people to walk, cycle, sing, dance, and use their local parks more. It's tied up with the Olympics and involves the London Borough of Waltham Forest, but in none of the literature does it say that the Greenways will be completed by 2012.

It sounds to me like the usual tosh I’ve come up against time and time again. (Okay, so I made up the bit about singing and dancing.) My suspicions deepen when I can't find a target date for completion. I have always had my doubts about Sustrans. This week I shall devote my energy to putting my pointed steel-tipped boot into Sustrans from a local perspective.

Where better to begin than with this Greenways drivel?

The design of Leytonstone High Street is cycle and pedestrian friendly, while alsoallowing motorised traffic to pass through.

Yeah, right. Here's the Sustrans cycling paradise that is Leytonstone High Street: